Fish Therapy
by Mary Kleinsmith
Summary: Jack decides that Jonas's office needs a little something. Note: This story was written some time ago and posted on my site, but I'm only now getting to post it here.


Fish Therapy by Mary Kleinsmith ()  
Category- Hmmm . . . fill-in-the-blank, I guess. Takes place between Seasons 5 and 6.  
Archive Anywhere, especially Jackfic and Heliopolis Season- 5-6 Spoilers - Season 6 in general, but nothing specific Rating- PG Content Warning- Does sneakiness count? Otherwise, no Summary- Jack decides that Jonas's office needs a little something.  
Disclaimer Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions,  
Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Sci-fi and Gekko Productions. Author's Notes: This is only my second Stargate story of all time, and it's not even really Jack/Sam, which is what I'm usually into. But given the comments of some of the other fans (you'll know who I mean), it was a story I wanted to write. Clarification is needed on what belonged to whom, I think. g Thanks to AC for looking it over and letting me know if I was on the right track.  
Feedback: Absolutely adored. Please?

Fish Therapy By Mary Kleinsmith ()

Stealth. Yeah, he could do stealth. Even with two bad knees and too much gray hair, he knew he could sneak around better than most of the youngsters on the base. The only possible exception was Carter, but that was only because she was so damn thin.

But he couldn't involve her in this particular mission, as she was unknowingly on diversionary duty. Hopefully, she'd never find out that it had been he who took advantage of her kindness to a newcomer.

Jonas Quinn had been on the base two months now, and yet every time the Colonel walked into his office, he was shocked to find the young man there. Oh, he was past being angry with him; he realized that he wasn't responsible for what happened with Daniel. But he didn't completely trust him yet, and that was proving to be difficult to get past.

Still, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid. Here he was, on a strange planet, stuck inside a mountain, and not even allowed to go for a walk in the sun. What kind of a life was that? It was no wonder the guy was addicted to television. It was a phenomenon he'd seen before, in Teal'c in those weeks before he'd gotten permission to leave the base. If it can't be seen live, at least it can be seen on the boob tube.

At first, it seemed like all Jonas did was watch the Weather Channel, and while that was still his favorite station, he'd branched out. The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Animal Planet. Anything that could give him knowledge of the world which he was going to call home, probably for the rest of his life.

And Major Sam Carter, bless her heart, had adopted the kid like the big sister she'd never had the opportunity to be. Perhaps that, also, was a reason for him to have been surly to Jonas. He was getting to spend down time with Carter that Jack, for official reasons, of course, could not. Was he jealous? You're damn right, Jack thought as he skulked through the corridors.

It was much too late at night for there to be many people around, and for that, Jack was grateful. When he found the hallway clear, he rolled a large cart out of the nearby storage room where he'd stashed it earlier, the equipment on it rattling louder than he would have liked. Arriving at the door to Jonas' office, he pressed an ear to it, listening to be sure that he'd turned in for the night. No noise emanated from within, so Jack, in a breach of all courtesy, swiped his card and let himself into the room.

It was faintly personalized, but how much could he have made it in two months when he couldn't even go to the store? The small TV, which often ran all hours of the day, sat on a small table. Daniel's leather-bound journals, which Jonas seemed to have dedicated himself to memorizing, were in the bookcase and on the counters, side by side with the composition notebooks Jonas used for his own journals. It was the best he could get from the supply officer, and if Jonas found them lacking, he never complained. Glancing over the pages of one, he found he could make no more heads nor tails of the entries than he could Daniel's.

Better get to work, Jack thought, pushing the thoughts aside. Clearing off some shelf space near a wall socket, he remembered how he'd introduced Cassandra to her new home world. "Every kid has to have a dog," he'd told her, and, in his mind, he'd been right. And while Jonas was hardly a kid, it was obvious that he needed something along the same lines. Something he'd be allowed to have on base. Something all his own.

Something, also, that fascinated him. If he spent 24 hours a day concentrating on nothing but the Weather Channel and carrying on Daniel's work, he'd go nuts within six months, and that was the last thing they needed. So, Jack assured himself, what he was doing wasn't just out of the kindness of his heart. As 2IC of the base, part of his responsibility was to keep it running smoothly, and having a wacked-out, human-looking alien running around just wasn't conducive to that goal.

The tank weighed a ton, and moving it was no easy task, but he had no choice. There was no water source in the office, and he could never be caught taking ten or twelve trips to the nearest faucet until he had enough to fill the thing. The water had been hot when he put it into the tank, knowing that there would be plenty of time for it to cool to the proper temperature.

Next came lights, filter, gravel, plants, and other minutiae. There were a lot of things Jack O'Neill didn't know, but this, he knew well. It had been a father/son project he and Charlie enjoyed all those years ago. Before . . .

Finally, everything set up to his satisfaction and the water testing positively, he added the last ingredient: several brightly-colored tropical fish. He'd tried to get each one in a different breed; more for Jonas to study and learn, he figured. It created quite an unusual looking fish tank, to be sure. But since Jonas had never seen a fish tank before, what was he going to say if it was garish? Jack smiled to himself, watching as the small animals circled inside, investigating their new home.

After sprinkling in a bit of food, and leaving the canister where Jonas was certain to find it, he took one look around for evidence before leaving the room as quietly as he had come in. They'd know somebody had been here, but they'd never know who, and Jack liked it that way.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Standing in line at the commissary, Jack opted for pancakes. Not that he couldn't use the sugar rush of a good bowl of fruit loops, he second guessed. It had been very late by the time he'd gotten home, his "chore" taking him well past midnight. But he'd gotten away with it, amazingly enough. Not that he'd doubted it for a minute . . .

Spying the blonde flash of Sam's hair across the room, he made a beeline for her. Teal'c was there as well, an inordinately huge amount of breakfast food piled onto his tray, and even Jonas was there with a bagel and some kind of melon that was a little too orange for Jack's tastes. Jonas was a nut for Earth food - it was another one of his quirks - so it surprised Jack that his portion was so small this morning.

"Morning, kids," Jack said, sliding into the chair across from Sam and beside Teal'c.

"Good morning, O'Neill."

"Morning, Sir."

Jonas remained quiet, but he didn't feel like it was a slight. More the man was just trying to keep out of his way, he was sure. He knew that Jonas thought that he hated him, and for the moment, that was okay with him. It would keep the younger man off guard, and keep Jack from making too many unreasonable comparisons to Daniel. Nobody knew better than Jonas that he couldn't be the archeologist; he'd have to find his niche in his own way.

"Are you feeling unwell, JonasQuinn?" Teal'c asked, apparently also noticing the tray's meager contents.

"I'm fine, Teal'c."

"Are you certain? You are eating considerably less than what I've noticed you have other mornings."

Jonas didn't respond, just shrugged, so Sam joined in the discussion.

"You know, if you're not up to snuff, you could go visit Janet. I'm sure that she can make you feel better if you're coming down with something."

"It's not that, really," Jonas said, taking a bite of his bagel, but you didn't need to be all that observent to see it was half hearted. It was the first time any of the three of them had seem Jonas anything but cheerful, so it took them by surprise.

"Home sick?" Sam guessed.

"Well, kind of," he admitted. "But not in the way you mean." His eyes took on a dreamy quality. "There were some pictures on . . ."

"The Weather Channel," they all chorused, making him smile a bit.

"Yes, the Weather Channel last night. A place called London. Blue skies, green grass right outside the city . . . it just . . ."

"It reminded you of home," Sam finished for him.

"Well, yes, but mostly, it just made me miss it. Being outside, you know?"

"You could ask General Hammond. Maybe it's been long enough that he'll let you out as long as you're with one of us."

Jonas seemed to think about it for a moment, but then slowly shook his head. "Maybe that's not the best idea. He may just decide that I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

"That's not gonna happen," Jack finally interrupted, speaking for the first time. "Hammond is a man of his word. He told you he'd grant you refugee status and let you work here, and he'll keep that promise until and unless you do something improper to make him change his mind."

"And I hardly think asking to go outside and get some sun would be classified as being a trouble maker," Sam smiled.

"Maybe in a few weeks," Jonas said, his eyes returning to his food. Jack somehow got the feeling that the man disliked talking about himself just as much as Jack did. They had something in common?

Realizing they were all finished, they stood without a word and left the commissary together. The direction seemed to be Jonas' office, which was fine with him, since he really wanted to be there when the young man saw his own piece of nature for the first time.

"How about if I get you some plants?" Sam suggested.

"Don't they need sunlight? There's no windows down here," Jonas stated.

"Some kinds don't, and some can make do on artificial light. It would at least give you a little piece of our world," she said, unknowingly echoing Jack's own thoughts.

"That might be nice," Jonas admitted.

"You could also get some photos for the walls of your office and quarters," Teal'c suggested. "Pictures of the world you will be able to see in the near future, be assured."

Jonas nodded as he drew to a stop at the door to his office, swiping his card through the card reader. The door opened freely, and he stepped in first, the remaining three following him in until he drew up short.

"Oh!" he smiled, his eyes drawn instantly to the new object in the office as it glowed in the dark. Flicking on the lights, he quickly stepped to the large fish tank, taking in the happily swimming inhabitants. "They're beautiful!" he said, his good mood apparently restored almost instantaneously.

"It's a tropical fish tank," Sam clarified for him. "I don't know all the breeds, but I could get you some books so you could study up."

"Thanks, Sam," he said, looking at her gratefully.

"They're just books," she blushed at his obvious gratitude.

"Not for the books. For this."

"Jonas . . . I hate to disappoint you, but I didn't do this."

Jonas' eyes moved to Teal'c, who quickly denied any knowledge of how the tank had arrived in his office. Shrugging, he caught Jack in the corner of his eyes, but didn't question him. Good. It saved Jack from lying about it.

"Is this what they eat?" he asked instead, picking up the small canister.

Sam showed him how to give them fish flakes and made sure he understood that too much was not a good thing. "When you need more, if you're still restricted, just let me know and I'll pick up more at the pet store."

"Thanks," he said again when she was finished with her instruction. "Think I'll ever find out how they got here?"

"I kind of doubt it," Sam admitted with a grin. "But don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Jonas looked at her with a puzzled expression, but Teal'c was happy to clarify. "It means, don't question it - just accept it."

"Exactly," Jack said, the first words he'd spoken since their arrival in the office. "Now if you don't mind our getting down to work, what's the ETA on those translations I asked for?"

"They're almost done," Jonas said, moving to stand in front of the artifact covered in some kind of alien writing. Jack couldn't remember what language he'd said it was, and really didn't care, to be honest. "I should be finished by lunch time."

"Good," Jack said with a nod. "We'll leave you to it, and I'll see you in a few hours."

Jack turned and left the office, drawing up short when Teal'c did not follow.

"You comin', T?"

"I think I'll remain and try to assist JonasQuinn, if that's acceptable, O'Neill."

"Sure, fine. Whatever gets me the translation fastest," Jack agreed, once again proceeding out of the office.

"Gee, Sir," Sam said, and he tried very hard not to look at the grin on her face, which he caught in his peripheral vision. "Who do you suppose could have given Jonas a tropical fish tank?" It was obvious that she knew, or at least suspected, but he'd never cop to it.

"I really have no idea, Major," he said, grinning to himself, as he turned the corner to go to his own office. "No idea whatsoever."

The End. 


End file.
